your my alpha star

27

Another press meeting was scheduled in five minutes to update people on Kai. Not much had changed from last weeks. Cinder wasn't sure if this was going to be a normal thing, the weekly press meetings about Kai's condition, but she was hoping she wouldn't have to attend every weeks if it was. 

Today was not the greatest day for them to pick. With the trial tomorrow and all. She would rather not be talking about the whole thing all professionally. There was nothing professional about the EMPEROR OF THE EASTERN COMMONWEALTH being kidnapped and tortured to the point he was unconscious! Why did things like this always have to happen to her. She needed a distraction. Luckily all her friends were here in the palace. She just had to get through the meeting. 

Arriving backstage she let the team fix up the makeup Iko did for her this morning. She had watched her and Kinney grow closer over the past weeks. She was glad Iko was getting everything she wanted. They dates Kinney surprised her with were always creative and fun. Just like Iko.

"Your on first." The director said.

"Ok. I'm ready." She looked around the room. Torin, Dr.Hubbard and others she recognized were all there. She went to go talk to Torin but ended up on a podium instead. She noticed a holographic speech already written for her to read. When the room was quiet she began.

"Thank you all for coming. As you all know Emperor Kaito has been unable to make an appearance sense we rescued him a few weeks ago. I'm sure your all wondering if he is ok and what happened. As you know from last weeks meeting a device was implanted into his neck to harm him as you saw in the video. That was all the information we knew at the time. You should know he had been safely transferred to a suspended animation tank a few hours after we rescued him. Currently the doctors are trying to figure out a way to override the device and get it out of his neck. Until they can do that safely he is to remain in the tank so no further harm is caused." She walked off the stage to let the doctor answer any questions and so Torin could end the meeting. 

Surprisingly her voice had stayed strong and steady while she read the speech. On the inside she had been the equivalent of a screw slowly being stripped away with every word. Whoever the speech writer was, seemed like they were trying to make light of the situation and it hit her in a different place. How do you make light of something so awful. She went to go find her friends. She had a few minutes till Torin was done with the press to do whatever. 

She rounded the corner to the guest wing. She was guessing that they were around here somewhere. She opened the door to Winter's room as a bag was thrown over her head, severing her connection to the net, and a hand clamped over her mouth. She started to struggle but someone strong held her still. She was picked up and brought through the palace. She wasn't sure how they planned on getting her out without being seen. From what she could tell, which was little from on a shoulder, they were walking through the middle of the palace and nobody had stopped them. This wasn't happening.

All the sudden she was taken off the strong persons shoulder and the hand over her mouth, that had somehow never moved, came off as well but the bag stayed on.

"Wherever your taking me they'll find me. Just like we found Kai."

"Never ma ha ha ha." She would recognize that voice anywhere. 

"Thorne?"

"No. It's Mr. Smith from Africa." 

"Mr. Smith?" Cinder asked.

"Did we not tell you that story?" Thorne asked. A story about a Mr. Smith?

"No."

"Oh when me and Cress were in the desert we ran into those people right. That kidnapped Cress. It was hilarious because the man shot the first animal Cress had ever seen. She had thought it was beautiful and had been mortified when it fell dead. Anyway he asked us who we were and as the fast thinking criminal I am I said that I was Mr. Smith and that Cress was Mrs. Smith and we had been robbed while traveling the desert for are honeymoon. Then until we met back up with you that was are names. No first names just last. Everyone fell for it." He talked fast.